TRUE LOVE IS BLIND
Disclaimer: Characters are not mine, they belong to the one and only – JK Rowling.
A/N: I AM ON FIRE! Updating like crazy!Love is like a pack of cards,
A heart to love him;
A diamond to marry him;
A club to kill him; and
A spade to bury him.
That definitely gave me a few laughs :D:D:D
SO YES, glittery-snowflake is proud to announce that she has found 2 extremely talented and wonderful Beta-readers!! Thank you so much Wendice and sweetstrawberry211 (who by the way is also an author on this site – be sure to check out her stories if you're looking for something light and humorous to read!).
So grammatical errors and/or spelling errors hopefully won't exist anymore. )
A few reviewers commented that Lily gave in too quickly.
I know it's slightly out of character for her, but you have to understand that she has been waiting for this very moment for 5 years, painfully disguising herself everyday just to hear someone deliver that exact speech to her. So when James was able to voice those very words to her, asking to understand her and get to know her, its only natural that she would give in to him, and at the same time giving herself a chance to know him.
Hope it clears things up for you guys!
Thanks to everyone who reviewed:
incompetent.twitch
Jackie
AnimePinkCess
X-Lily-Evans-X
Lia-The-True-Gryffindor376
Kira2667
KaitsSlytherin
Sweetstrawberry211
MoodyMoony241
lilylurvesjamsie
Wendice
C'est moiiii
TinkerBell658
KikiLala
summersgirl2526
Impresionante-Mujer
carrebear14
SunshineSlayer
shetlandlace
offramp
You guys give me motivation to keep writing!! :)
Chapter 4: Flight
Without a doubt, all eyes were definitely on Lily as she walked out of the hall. Everyone, in particular Sirius did little to hide their looks of horror. Not only had James Potter asked Lily out for the second time, Lily had also agreed.
It took a few moments before the silent hall broke into loud chatter; every single person turned to their friends, discussing the scene they had just witnessed..
"How the bloody hell did you do that?" Sirius asked with his mouth wide open. He still hadn't completely comprehended the situation.
James sat down at the table, a smile evident on his near perfect features. "I told you didn't I?" he said, "Everything is just too easy for me".
Sirius was silent, only raising an eyebrow.
"If you really want to know," James started, "It was really quite simple."
He turned to Anna sitting at the far end of the table next to Lily's now empty seat and winked. "I didn't know her too well, so I just asked her friend Anna for some help. She unlike Lily was very eager to see me." He looked at Anna briefly again, and she looked down, blushing.
Seeing the confused looks on his friends' faces, James let out a small chuckle. "She told me Lily had a thing for guys who took time to understand her, someone who wanted to get to know the real her. It was all very easy once I found that out." He said, his tone light and dismissive. "I just had to come up with some corny sentences to make her think I really cared about understanding her better, and it was all pretty much down hill from there, as you all saw." He finished, feeling extremely proud of himself.
Remus looked concerned as his eyes traced its way to the door where Lily had exited a few minutes earlier, while Sirius and Peter both let out sighs of relief.
"Thank God," Sirius said lightheartedly. "I thought you really meant what you said there, I was starting to worry that you were turning into a decent person!"
James laughed and smacked Sirius playfully on the head. "I am a decent person. Unlike you."
Remus turned back to the rest of the marauders with a serious face. "What are you planning to do now?"
Peter edged closer to listen to James' marvelous plans. "I'm sure I'll come up with something." James said, shoving a sugar-pumpkin cube into his mouth.
Lily's normally quiet dorm for two was currently significantly noisier than usual thanks to Anna's incessant ranting.
"I can't believe it! I can't believe it!"
Lily rolled her eyes and tried harder to concentrate on her book. She was back to her usual self for now, her auburn hair flowing gracefully past her shoulders, her rosy cheeks glowing against her flawless skin.
"Lily!!" Anna squealed for the tenth time that hour. "Since James asked you out, which obviously shows he's interested in you not your looks, does that mean you won't have to go around disguising yourself anymore?!" she asked, sounding hopeful.
Lily sighed and put down her book. "Don't be silly Anna. Just because he asked me out doesn't mean he's interested in who I am. maybe he's just interested in me because I'm not interested in him, maybe he's interested in me because I'm ugly, or maybe even because he's bored of reading through his Hogwarts: A history textbook. Who knows."
Anna groaned. "You're just overanalyzing things Lily." she said, sitting on the bed next to her friend. "How much longer does it have to be like this? I'm so sick of being in disguise."
"It's not you that's in disguise, you still look absolutely gorgeous." Lily said, putting a comforting arm around her friend. 'Anna – 'she started before a knock at the door made her flinch in surprise.
"Lily-"
It didn't take her long to guess who it was.
"Are you in there?"
A sudden wave of apprehension washed over her.
"What is he doing here at this time of night?" Lily whispered to Anna in frustration.
The look on Anna's face told her that she didn't know either. "Try to keep him at the door for as long as possible, actually no. Try to shoo him away!" Lily called out before grabbing 2 towels, a wand, and her glasses, running into the bathroom, and slamming the door closed behind her.
The knock came once again, this time with noticeably more force than before.
Anna jumped up abruptly and opened the door. "Hi James," she said leaning against the doorframe with a huge grin. "What are you doing here?"
"Good evening, Anna." He answered politely, smiling back though not quite as enthusiastically. "I thought I heard someone else. Is Lily in here?"
Anna's smile faded only slightly. Lily wasn't going to be too happy about this. "She's in the bathroom, she'll be out shortly. Would you like to come in?"
James nodded courteously, and let himself in. The room was extremely plain compared to Kate's and the other girls' dormitories he had been in. Apart from the pile of books on the bookshelf, and a neatly folded stack of clothing in the corner, there was nothing else he could see.
"So Anna, tell me something." he said quietly with a bemused expression. "I heard Lily hated us Marauders, now why exactly is that?"
He was genuinely curious, but not a bit offended.
Anna looked towards the bathroom door, then back at James shrugging her shoulders. "But that's just Lily!! I have nothing against you guys at all!!" she assured, before James smiled once more.
The bathroom door swung open.
"It's late Potter, you might not want to sleep but I'm tired." Lily scoffed, pushing her black glasses higher up the bridge of her nose.
James's smile never left his face. "And good evening to you too, Evans." He put direct emphasis on her last name, making Lily somewhat uncomfortable with the sound. He'd always called her Lily. "I came to ask you if you wanted to come flying with me."
Lily sighed. She walked towards James, who was still grinning, grabbed his arm, opened the door and pushed him out before she closed it behind him, locking it in the process.
2 seconds later, she heard a quiet Alohomora being muttered, and by the time she had turned around, James Potter was in the room once again.
"That wasn't too polite of you. I am your guest for this evening."
Lily stared back at him in disbelief. "You can't be a guest if you weren't invited in the first place."
"That isn't exactly true, your friend Anna gladly invited me in," he said turning to face Anna who nodded in agreement, then shot Lily an apologetic look. "And besides, you agreed to go out with me this morning. Have your forgotten already?"
How could she have forgotten? She thought to herself.
"I said I'd give us a chance to get to know each other, Potter! Not go on a date with you!"
James's smile assured Lily that no matter how hard she tried, she could be truly irritated at him tonight.
"How is that any different?" James said walking towards her. "But if it makes thatmuch of a difference to you, then fine. Let's go and get to know each other."
The next thing she knew, a warm hand enclosed itself around hers dragging her forcefully out the door. "Potter! Let go of me!"
He didn't respond, only smiling even wider.
"JAMES POTTER! Did you hear me? I said let go of me!! Anna - stop him!" Lily turned around pleadingly to look at her friend, who seemed to be enjoying the show just as much as James was. "I'm serious, Potter. Let go or I will petrify you!"
James stopped in his tracks and turned around. "Oh, stop being so difficult Lily. I'm not letting you go back, and besides you don't even have your wand." He said before the playful grin reappeared on his features.
Lily looked down at her pocket. He was right. Her wand wasn't there.
By the time she looked up again, they had already walked hand in hand out of the Gryffindor common room.
The night was much colder than Lily thought. The icy wind caused the hair on her skin to stand up at a 90 degree angle, and sent shivers throughout the rest of her body.
"W-where are you t-taking me!!" she asked, the cold making her much more irritated. "It's f-freezing!!"
James finally let go of her hand, which Lily had hoped to some extent that his strong warm hands would keep holding.
She quickly bent over and crouched down, hugging her knees for warmth, too afraid to look up and face the winter air. She felt something heavy fall onto her shoulders; something which almost instantaneously, stopped her from shaking.
"Here, this'll keep you warm" James said smoothly, appearing not to be cold at all.
Lily looked up at him, surprised. "I'm fine," she lied "You keep it; you'll be cold wearing short sleeves like that."
She reached over her shoulder about to take the jacket off when James grabbed her hand to stop her. "I play Quidditch in the middle of winter Lily. I'm used to the cold." He smiled again before leading her closer to the lake.
Lily was about to protest, but his jacket was so unbelievably warm against her skin that she did not want to be exposed like before to the coldness.
James stopped abruptly at the edge of a lake. On the floor next to him lay a broomstick Centaur1000 in metallic letters, shimmering in the moonlight.
"I hope you're not too afraid of heights, Lily." He said playfully, "Otherwise this might be a bit more difficult than I had imagined…"
It took a few seconds before she realized was James was about to do. "Oh No…" Lily practically shrieked, slowly backing away towards the castle. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no! There's no way you're dragging me on that thing." She wanted to run back; heights were definitely not her thing. But James's grasp was much too strong.
James looked amused.
Lily frowned, "Do you enjoy watching people suffer?" she accused, glaring at him. She rolled her eyes when he didn't respond.
"You're much more interesting than I thought you would be." James laughed at Lily's annoyed expression. He positioned himself directly in front of her, making her copy his stance exactly. "Don't worry," he murmured, assuring her, clutching her hand tighter. "I promise I won't let you fall."
And in one swift movement, the broom zoomed between their legs and lifted them vertically up into the air.
Lily hadn't even comprehended what had happened, before she realized that the patch of grass on which she had standing a second earlier was now 50 feet below her. "POTTER!! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU FOR THIS." She yelled, while hugging his waist as tight as she possibly could at the same time.
They must have been 100 feet into the air, and Lily could barely breathe. She squeezed her eyes shut, too afraid to open them. She was unsure of the exact reason why she couldn't move any part of her body.
Was it was the coldness of the air that had managed to freeze her solid, or her adrenaline which seemed to be leading her to believe that moving even an inch would cause her to tumble off the broomstick and fall 150 feet to a certain death, or whether it was simply because right now, not only were her arms wrapped tightly around James Potter, but his warm hands were also intertwined around hers.
She let her head rest against his back, which shielded her completely from the harsh blowing wind.
"Lily…open your eyes…" his voice called out softly. She didn't know how long she had been holding him like this, her head resting so comfortably against him. Had she fallen asleep?
Slowly, she obeyed. Her heart almost jumped out of her mouth, as she realized once again just how high up they were. "OH GOD. HELP ME!" she managed to scream before she tightened her grip on James, burying her face against his back once more.
James only laughed at this. "Didn't I promise that I wasn't going to let you fall?" he asked, turning around and tilting Lily's head up. "I bet you've never seen Hogwarts like this before…" he smiled, motioning for her to look down.
Lily swallowed; her heart had never beaten so fast. James wrapped his arm around her shoulder, securing her against him. "Trust me."
Lily breathed.
It was true.
She had never seen Hogwarts like this before. The huge, brightly lit castle in the midst of the field seemed so much smaller than what she was used to seeing. For the first time, she understood what truly breathtaking was. The forbidden forest, not far from the castle was in complete darkness, yet the surrounding lights only enhanced the forest's surrealness. Squinting, Lily could just make out small, faint lights floating up and down on top of the lake.
"They're firedragons" James said smoothly, seeing the questioning look in Lily's eyes. "Sort of similar to fireflies or glow worms, or whatever muggles call them."
"Hey," she said, finally able to breathe properly again. "This… really is amazing."
She turned to face him, glowing with excitement. "I've never seen anything like it!"
It was the first time that James had looked at her this closely, and for some reason, Lily's emerald green eyes, defined perfectly by her long lashes were drawing him into her like a spell. Even behind a pair of black, thick-framed glasses, her eyes still glistened and sparkled under the moonlight. "I'm glad you like it", he said, before quickly looking away.
There was an unwritten rule for the marauders. No girl could ever be permitted to make them lose control - in any way at all. Especially not like this.
From the corner of his eyes, James could still see Lily smiling. Who would've thought Lily Evans could smile like this.
"Do you come here often?" she asked, James taking notice of the sweetness of her voice.
He shrugged. "Sometimes, when I feel like I just need to get away from it all" he replied quietly, still reluctant to look into her eyes. "You know… from the troubles in life…"
Lily raised an eyebrow disbelievingly. "Like there could be anything bothering you," she said turning to face him while eyeing him suspiciously.
For the briefest second, the playfulness in James' eyes disappeared, and was replaced by pain, an emotion she couldn't quite interpret. Lily blinked.
Whether or not it was a figment of her imagination, she didn't know. For by the time her eyes were open again, James was smiling more mischievously than ever. "Wow you're right Lily!" He laughed, "I've never actually really been bothered by anything!"
Lily rolled her eyes at him. Just when she had begun thinking that perhaps she was wrong about James Potter all along, his cockiness had returned. "I'm tired." Lily said, turning her head away. "I want to go back."
"Well then," James smirked. "You better hold on tight."
Lily felt her heart take a 50 feet plunge downwards along with the Centaur1000, before she let out one deafening scream, clinging onto James with her life. And after a mere 5 seconds of stomach-dropping terror, she felt the grass beneath her feet.
"Could you at least warn me next time?" she spat angrily, staggering off the broom.
She watched as the corners of James' mouth turned upwards.
"So you want a next time Lily?" James coaxed, "Are you asking me out this time?" he continued, obviously amused.
Lily pulled his jacket off and threw it towards him, trying hard not to show the icy chills the wind was causing her. She turned on her heel and walked agitatedly back towards the castle.
James' warm hands grabbed her arms once again. "Thank you..." He said, smiling weakly. "…for giving me a chance, that is."
Lily felt herself being pulled closer towards him, until her face was just inches away from his. A smile crept its way onto her face, as she admired his features once more. His eyes stared deeply into hers.
Even the wind had stopped blowing, making the night as silent as ever. The only sound she could hear was the rapid beating of her heart.
James lifted a hand to her face, softly brushing her cheeks, as if drawing her even closer to him…
It was her mind that acted first.
Lily staggered back in response while James drew his hand away from her immediately. Though his eyes were still gazing unfathomably into hers, sending her into a state of confusion.
"James –", Lily stammered, her heart racing, unable to look away. "Tonight was…" Lily paused as she tried to search for the right word. "…memorable...so... thank you."
James didn't respond, but his smile was enough to tell Lily that perhaps, he felt the same way too.
His hands quickly found hers, as they walked back into the castle.
A/N: HOW LONG WAS THIS CHAPTER!! Who here is actually falling for James' false pretense?! haha.
Next chapter will be up hopefully sometime next week!!
Love it? Hate it? Simply can't wait for the next chapter? Hope I stop writing because you feel that you're just wasting your time on such a crappy story? Please leave a review and tell me!
Oh, and if you can be bothered, please answer these questions!!
1. Have you read the previous version before?
2. If yes, do you like this one better? :P
If no, proceed to the next question :)
3. How long would you wait for an author to update before giving up on them?
4. How often would you like me to update?
Thanks everyone!!